New Student Basketball Ticket Policy
Looks like they VASTLY oversold basketball season tickets, and thus they need a new policy since they sold 4500 student tickets and only have seats for 3000. Information found in http://michigandaily.com/sports/athletic-department-announces-new-baske…
"Students will have a 72-hour period to select individual tickets to an upcoming group of games. If a student fails to use claimed tickets to two or more games, he or she will not be eligible to claim tickets for upcoming games."
"Though he does not anticipate that students who purchased season tickets will miss out on games they want to attend, they will review an individual’s attendance to determine who will receive entry to the Wolverines’ marquee fixture against Michigan State."
I thought someone had mentioned a policy like this for football tickets that they wanted to see in the sad picture thread.
I imagine ticket holders are pretty upset by this. The ticket office is essentially selling 4500 tickets, and taking the money, but only providing 3000 tickets. One question that is unanswered is what happens if more tickets are claimed than there are seats? Is it first come first serve? Also, it's real risky to sell your unused tickets because if the buyer ends up not using it, you get punished, severely.
Seems like the ticket office didn't plan ahead well, they should've just cut off sales when they hit 3000 and moved everyone else to a wait list. But in the email they sent on April 23, they said "The deadline is May 3 at 5:00pm. Student basketball ticket policies are available at www.mgoblue.com/ticketoffice under Students. To be guaranteed a seat you should order now." Guess they couldn't do that after saying that.
Take your anger to them at @DaveBrandonAD and @HunterLochmann, or more conventional email methods.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:35 PM ^
yourself. Maybe the idea came from an underling, but this was CLEARLY his decision to implement.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:12 PM ^
Every time you let the ticket office get away with something, they'll keep pushing the envelope. When you fight back, they give in.
MMB to Dallas, Giant Noodle, Advertising on Field Goal Nets.
I'm starting to believe that Dave Brandon just throws ideas out there and sees what kind of backlash he gets to see if he can go ahead with it.
The more he gets away with, the more brazen he gets. It's student tickets now, eventually he'll find a way to get more money out of the general public beyond the PSL, or the PSL will just keep going up.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:12 PM ^
What were the terms given when buying the tickets? If it's anything questionable, the law school has clinics that are designed to help people for nearly free, I'm sure they would love to look at it. I'd also love to see legal action taken against this AD.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
September 17th, 2013 at 11:13 PM ^
I don't know how a student could know whehter he or she could attend a game when the game times haven't even been set yet and none of the students have schedules for winter term or know when exams are. Is there a separate 72 hour period for each game and when is it?
September 17th, 2013 at 11:18 PM ^
From my understanding, they'll be offered in pods and there will probably be game times announced by then. You won't have to say whether you can attend us vs Wisconsin right now when that's impossible to know based on schedule.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:14 PM ^
Ok now the reaction has gotten ridiculous. If you can't be bothered to even attempt to see the logic behind what the AD is doing here, your opinion is invalid. Sports are emotional by nature so I get that it attracts folks who express their emotions without thinking, but god damn, people. This is a good change.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:20 PM ^
Oh it's a wonderful change.
It's wonderful logic on the AD's side. We can sell something and then change terms post sale so we can make more money.
Moron.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:22 PM ^
They can sell seats which have already been sold, and at a higher rate. So they get more money.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
September 17th, 2013 at 11:39 PM ^
The arithmetic is not too hard here buddy. If you can't see what so many others here can, well, I give up. I'll leave it to somebody else to explain it to you.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:57 PM ^
September 17th, 2013 at 11:52 PM ^
Uh yes, Geaux.
For a guy who's been insulting people and ridiculing them for criticizing the policy throughout this thread, you don't seem to have any idea of how it actually works.
Jesus you make our degrees look bad.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:59 PM ^
September 18th, 2013 at 8:28 AM ^
There are guaranteed to be 1500 unuseable tickets for every game. This is a gain for every single game.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:43 PM ^
You are aware they did this anyway in prior years? The only difference is they never had a hard number of about how many people would show up, so there guesses were often innacurate.
September 18th, 2013 at 12:15 AM ^
If this is correct, then there will probably be less double selling not more. It's just making the double selling more transparent. I bet just about every ticket gets claimed though.
September 18th, 2013 at 12:20 AM ^
I'm confused by your last statement. Do you mean, every seat is taken? If so, thats what the AD is striving for, and thus they will have achiever their goal. If not, do you mean everyone will claim games that they do not attend? Thats what the AD is trying to prevent by giving the limit of two missed claims.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:23 PM ^
They have 3000 seats, but they're selling 4500 ($30,000). If any tickets are unclaimed by students, they'll be resold also. It's maximizing revenue by overselling with no penalty. If they wanted to be honest, they'd give all 4500 students that bought season ticket packages tickets, and get rid of 1500 single game tickets.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:32 PM ^
B) The severe discount provided by the University students removes all self righteousness behind it
The people left out are the ones who show up for 5 games. That's it. When people can show actual theft (non refunds for games students are forced not to attend), THEN it's the university "making more money."
September 17th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^
I'll be stunned if I see the ticket office returning money for games that students don't claim, I can't see them giving money back. The discount is because this is COLLEGE ATHLETICS, this is originally a game played for the students, now it's being turned into a moneymaking opportunity.
And my point by saying them being honest is their quote from the April 23rd email guaranteeing students who ordered by the deadline "a seat." Not guaranteeing a seat if and only if you go to every previous game you submitted a claim for.
September 18th, 2013 at 12:16 AM ^
September 18th, 2013 at 12:18 AM ^
Not following you. There have been 4+ sections in the upper bowl for students for at least two years now. That doesn't mean they've been overselling in years past.
September 18th, 2013 at 2:37 AM ^
This is 100% not true. There is absolutely no way the Athletic Department has "always oversold" student tickets. Put down the Kool-Aid.
September 18th, 2013 at 9:13 AM ^
Were you this pissed off about discounted student ticket prices when you were a student? Have you ever thought that maybe they're offered these prices because THEY'RE FUCKING YOUNG STUDENTS WITH NO REAL WORLD JOBS???
September 17th, 2013 at 11:23 PM ^
They're making more money by overselling the seats.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:24 PM ^
They can sell unfilled seats by students to other people. I don't really see this as a bad thing though, it gives more people a chance to go to the game.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:27 PM ^
I'm fine with the change (as you can see from my arguments above), but they will be making more money. Say only 2000 students sign up for Coppin St out of 4000 (bc 500 give back tix because of RAGE). total. Well the A.D still gets the revenue from all 4000 students who bought season tickets and then can sell the remainder to either non-season tix holder students or the general public. So total revenue is 4000 students + 500 new students + 500 general public (for the 3000 student section seats in the arena).
September 18th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^
September 18th, 2013 at 7:13 AM ^
No. They are forcing the fact that 1500 students who bought tickets for the MSU game can't go because they are not deserving. They are forcing 1500 students who bought tickets to sit at home because of some "test of fanhood". It is indefensible.
September 18th, 2013 at 7:23 AM ^
What would be better? First across the finish line? Then we'd hear that they're only in it for the money and how system was gamed by people looking to only go to 3-4 games. If the student section wasn't regularly half full, this wouldn't be a problem. Are you ok with a half-full, on avg, student section? Is that worth letting 50% never show up but get 3-8th row court side seats for premium matchups?
September 18th, 2013 at 8:32 AM ^
Are they overselling those tickets? If you can't oversell all of them - you can't oversell any of them.
September 18th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^
Wtf does that even mean? They've already voluntarily sold the tickets for a price the AD unilaterally chose. There is no potential value to be "recouped" in those seats, which should be empty if the people who own the right to sit in them choose not to go. There should be no additional hoops to jump through for people who bought season tickets. The students did not buy a season pass to a website where they can click "claim" if they know they want to go far enough in advance.
If I decide not to use my season tickets, the seats will be empty, period. The guy who owns the seats next to mine, who sells every game but the big ones on stubhub in order to profit from his tickets, still gets to come to the big games. The students are supposed to have bought the same deal. They can't be retroactively treated as second-class citizens because the AD is unhappy it couldn't get away with charging them more to begin with. And fuck old Lochdog if he thinks otherwise.
September 18th, 2013 at 7:11 AM ^
The only reason they think they can do this is because f*** the students. If they oversold the OSU football game by 55000 and you bought a ticket - they aren't giving your money back. You are just screwed.
If you can't be bothered to look at the facts and say what the AD is doing is undefensible - your opinion is invalid.
September 18th, 2013 at 7:19 AM ^
Are you mad because you hoped to leave an empty seat for 2/3 the season so you could go to 3-5 games?
September 18th, 2013 at 8:34 AM ^
Seriously - your arguements are tired. I am mad that I could go to all of the games but not the big games because they sold my ticket to someone else.
September 18th, 2013 at 8:46 AM ^
Ok I've seen this argument paraded several times, and I'll say it again. If you choose to go to all the games, you will get the big games. There are not going to be 3000 students who claim Coppin St or S Carolina St or whatever. If you go to every game, you will have top priority for the big games.
September 18th, 2013 at 9:21 AM ^
Aren't they only rewarding the students for the Michigan State game?
What happens for Arizona, Wisconsin, and Indiana?
September 18th, 2013 at 9:29 AM ^
The policy is not "if you go to every game, you will have top prority for the big games (that you already bought a ticket for)". It is not a carrot - it's a stick. Even if you go to all the games, there is no guarantee that you can go to the big games. Your argument is trying to deflect this basic truth.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:24 PM ^
The policy makes perfect sense and improves soemthing that is in inefficent (empty seats at games) except for the fact the ath. dept. is not refunding people for games they do not claim. If they are able to resell a ticket....in other words sell it *twice* then the student should recieve their X amount per game back. As it stands, they created quite the murky new revenue stream.
September 18th, 2013 at 5:42 PM ^
Fuck off, Hunter. (Obviously this was in response to only the first phrase of your post, but I'm leaving it here as a testament to how much that claim pisses me off.)
September 17th, 2013 at 11:24 PM ^
September 17th, 2013 at 11:38 PM ^
Okay it could be worse but we were told we were getting guaranteed tickets for all the games.
If they tell us beforehand, much less outrage. When I buy a product, I better get the product I paid for, not 2/3 of it.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:45 PM ^
September 17th, 2013 at 11:28 PM ^
I only received student tickets to half the football games in '97, so I say suck it up students.
I DO think students have a legitimate gripe if they are not refunded for games they cannot get tickets to. It doesn't explicitly say that students won't receive refunds to games not attended in that Daily article, so maybe they will.
Those who are complaining that they've attended every game since they started going to school 25 years ago and Brandon is screwing them over - it sounds like you're likely to get tickets to every game anyway, so stop whining.
September 17th, 2013 at 11:31 PM ^
Key issue...you weren't asked to pay up fron for 6 home games in 97 were you?
September 17th, 2013 at 11:37 PM ^
I think I did, and then I received a partial refund after the tickets were issued. I'm not sure why fronting the money is a "key issue"....
September 17th, 2013 at 11:40 PM ^
Because I'm willing to bet a substantial amount that students will not be offered a refund when they decline Coppin St. ticket.
If I'm wrong mea culpa...but we know this department far too well at this point right...